Tag Archives: Prep

I have either been prepping pages, studying/buying art journal books or actively working on pages every day this month

I have decided to do a weight loss surgery Journal using “stitch over ribbon” bookbinding with Bristol and watercolor paper and some bookboards from an old light weight journal and then binding it with cloth measuring tape ribbon like the one below (mine is 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 in)

I may also do one on our Handfasting, not sure.

(sorry my camera phone is not great, going to scan a bunch of work this month)

the one with the butterfly above it is my inspiration

I am learning what I can and cant do with bristol paper which I have never used before, it looks like I will be investing some money in 140# watercolor paper and learning about gessoing bristol paper, It should be a learning experiment.

1st page in my 1st handmade book, red ink sunk through page, thankfully there was nothing on the back

We had craft night tonight at a local coffee shop and I had 3 hours to journal and visit with friends.

Part of what I did was cut out a couple dozen silver velum butterflies that say Believe in different fonts all over them, the velum takes a great tint when you use gel pens and smear it on it, I am putting on on each page of my new 2011 mini journal since Believe is my word for the year.

Believe butterflies

I then finished two single pages of the 4×6 journal

and started the background for a two page spread, using colors outside of my comfort zone

Finally I helped set up a very basic Art Journal kit for a friend just to get him going

I am working in my mini 4x6in spiral bound journal for at least 10 minutes a day everyday and still trying to get one page done in my 8x8in loose leaf journal each week (still need to scan those pages I have done)

I am not use to working so small or in a spiral notebook so it is taking a bit of learning to free myself up, also I am having to learn what I can and can’t do with this paper, it does not like watercolor directly on the pages but I can do it separately and glue a background in, which is what I think will be happening most with this book.

Here is the pages I have done in the 2011 mini art journal from Jan 1 to Jan 4

Hi I am T’Rina…

I am a woman in my 40's (born 12-7-68) from Boise Idaho. I am an artist, a writer, a crafter, a liberal, a giver, a decent person, I am an Eclectic, a mix of Goth, bohemian, geeky nerd artist.

I am married to and madly in love with a man 16 years my junior (shhhh dont tell him he thinks I am 25...JK) I try to live my life to the fullest, I love to spend time talking to a wide variety of people and hanging out with my friends doing all sorts of things, watching movies, having coffee or going out to clubs though I dont drink for health reasons.

I enjoy people who have a dark sense of humor and weird outlook on life yet manage to be positive overall, I despise having other people's unwanted drama dumped on my lap because for some reason people feel the need to drag me into their drama. I am always willing to listen to a friend who needs me but I find many other people are just looking for an audience.

I am a geek/nerd and I enjoy webcomics, role playing games (World of Darkness games, Vampire, Changeling and Werewolf) and I enjoy odd little gadgets.

Everything in my life is in flux, I am changing all the time right now, I had Duodenal Switch Weight Loss Surgery on April 24th 2010 to help with the arthritis that has caused me trouble for years now. I am trying to redefine myself and I am not sure who I will be in the coming years. I have lost over 240 pounds before and after surgery which is changing a lot about my body and how I deal with the world. I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I am finally realizing that many of the things I have spent years hating myself for thinking they were due to being fat and lazy is related to much maligned and little understood illness that I have had for going on 30 years. I go in and out of remission with this illness and have good times and bad.